r18novel Chapter 106 The Production Team's Sweet Troubles
Chapter 106 The Production Team's Sweet Troubles
Wang Bo looked at her face so close to his own, could smell the faint scent of her perfume, and could see the curiosity and a hint of nervousness flickering in her eyes.
He was silent for a few seconds before saying softly, "What's written in the songs is all that can't be returned to."
Su Xiaoxiao stared into his eyes, as if trying to glean more information from them.
But Wang Bo's eyes were calm, like the water of a lake in late autumn, clear to the bottom, yet without any ripples.
"That's good." Su Xiaoxiao straightened up, resuming her businesslike tone. "Let bygones be bygones. What's important is the present and the future. This song is very good. Keep up the good work. Whether it wins the championship or not is not important. What's important is leaving behind good works."
"I will," Wang Bo said earnestly.
Su Xiaoxiao nodded, glanced at her watch, and said, "I have a meeting, so I'll be going now. Chen Mo, hurry up with the arrangement; I need to hear the full version before the show."
"I guarantee I'll complete the mission!" Chen Mo assured him.
After Su Xiaoxiao left, Chen Mo sidled up to Wang Bo and winked, "Wang Bo, tell me honestly, does President Su have feelings for you?"
Wang Bo was arranging the sheet music, not even looking up: "Don't talk nonsense."
"How am I lying?" Chen Mo protested. "When she asked about your ex-girlfriend just now, the look in her eyes, the tone of her voice... tsk tsk, the air was thick with jealousy, I could smell it even with my headphones on."
Wang Bo stopped what he was doing and looked at Chen Mo: "Brother Chen, are you here to make music, or to be a gossip reporter?"
"The two don't conflict," Chen Mo laughed. "But seriously, Wang Bo, a woman like President Su has looks, ability, and a great figure... If you can win over a rich and beautiful woman like her, you'll save twenty years of hard work, no, a lifetime of hard work."
three days later.
Meeting room of the "New Voice Battle" program team at Lin'an TV Station.
The rectangular conference table was full of people, and the air was filled with either the bitter aroma of coffee or the delicate fragrance of tea.
The air was thick with smoke, and no one paid any attention to the "No Smoking" signs on the wall.
Director Zhao Zhong sat in the main seat, the ratings report spread out in front of him like a hot potato.
"The fourth episode will be recorded tomorrow," Zhao Zhong said, his voice a little hoarse. "Has everyone seen the data?"
Silence fell over the meeting room.
After the second episode aired, "The Voice of China" achieved record-breaking viewership, with total online views exceeding 500 million and Weibo hashtag views surpassing 1 billion. And without exception, all these peak figures occurred during Wang Bo's performance.
"A peak viewership of 2.8%," the assistant director said cautiously. "It ranked first in its time slot, a full 1.2 percentage points higher than the second-ranked variety show."
"Wang Bo's individual clips have garnered over 80 million views on short video platforms," the publicity director added, "and have driven 17 related topics to trend on social media."
"GG is very satisfied." The business director pushed up his glasses. "Four new sponsors are already in talks, all attracted by the show's popularity and... Wang Bo's personal influence."
"However," Zhao Zhong put down his pen, and this transitional word suddenly froze the atmosphere in the conference room.
"But the sponsor wasn't satisfied." Zhao Zhong sighed. "He called me personally yesterday, and his tone was very rude. Qin Xiao's performance in the third episode was clearly very good. His rendition of 'River' was commendable in both composition and performance, but he was completely overshadowed by Wang Bo in terms of buzz."
The program planner muttered to himself, "Whose fault is that? Wang Bo's 'Travel' is definitely more moving..."
"That's true," Zhao Zhong rubbed his temples. "But here's the problem—our show wasn't a completely fair competition from the very beginning. Do you know how much money the sponsors invested? Two-thirds of the production budget. Qin Xiao was the newcomer they were going to promote, and the champion was a condition that had been agreed upon long ago."
"But with Wang Bo's current momentum, if nothing unexpected happens..." the assistant director said with a wry smile, "unless we openly rig the game, the audience isn't stupid; they can tell who's good and who's bad at a glance."
Silence fell over the meeting room again.
This is the sweet trouble they are facing now.
It's delightful that Wang Bo's performances in each episode are absolutely stunning, bringing explosive popularity and viewership to the show.
She was so worried that her hair was about to fall out, because if things continued like this, Qin Xiao, the pre-selected champion, would really lose his chance.
"How about..." the publicity director tentatively suggested, "we could do something with the editing? Like reducing Wang Bo's screen time, or cutting to scenes of other contestants' performances where the audience's reactions were lukewarm or awkward?"
"Are you crazy?" Zhao Zhong looked up abruptly. "This is only the fourth episode, and the show's ratings and viewership have been steadily increasing. Wang Bo has done a tremendous job! Doing this is killing the goose that lays the golden eggs, destroying our own foundation!"
"But what about the sponsor..."
"Even the big sponsors need to consider the return on investment!" Zhao Zhong raised his voice. "If the show loses credibility due to behind-the-scenes manipulation, who will watch the next season? Forget about new sponsors, even the existing ones will withdraw their funding!"
He said in a somber tone, "Do you know what's most terrifying? With the internet so developed now, once our shady operations are exposed, our sponsors' products will be boycotted! Those brands are even more afraid of this than we are! We're not the Nobel Prize, daring to award the Peace Prize to a president who started a war and invaded other countries."
The business director nodded: "Indeed, netizens are very disgusted by behind-the-scenes manipulation. Last time, when 'Voice of Idol' was exposed for vote rigging, the sponsor's official Weibo account was bombarded with 300,000 negative comments, and the stock price even dropped."
"So..." Zhao Zhong looked around at everyone, "We must find a way to satisfy both sides, so that Qin Xiao can ultimately win the championship, but it can't seem too fake, and we can't offend the audience and potential sponsors."
Sighs echoed throughout the conference room.
This is no less difficult than getting a cat to bathe itself while keeping its fur dry.
"Actually..." the competition planner, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up, "I saw the song list that Wang Bo submitted in the fourth episode."
All eyes were on him.
The competition organizer pushed the tablet to the center of the table: "Original, folk style, the theme is a city—but not Lin'an, it's Chengdu in Western Shu."
Zhao Zhong stared at the song title and sheet music on the screen, his expression becoming complicated.
"He's really showing his true colors," Zhao Zhong sighed. "Last time I talked to him, I hinted that he shouldn't always sing original songs, but could sing other people's songs, and I even recommended a few... He immediately retorted, saying he was disheartened with Lin'an. Now look at him, he's directly writing a song about another city. He's telling me, telling everyone: If you don't support me, a local, then I won't write songs for you people who are reaping the biggest benefits from being a local."
The assistant director gasped, "This young man... he's got guts."
"Just now?" Zhao Zhong smiled wryly. "He's fearless because he knows his current popularity and that Xiaoyi Culture Media is backed by the Su Group. The production team wouldn't dare to really do anything to him. Once this song is performed, the effect will definitely be explosive, but at the same time, it will slap our production team in the face—look, your Lin'an program has forced local singers to write songs for other cities."